The registration of a trademark does not guarantee the
preservation of the protection right to the mark, because it still
has to be used. The obligation of genuine use of trademarks aims at
eliminating from registers those marks that may unduly restrict
competition. In practice, this serves to reduce the number of
trademark disputes, counteracts registrations intended solely to
block competition, and "frees" marks for common use.
Essentially, this obligation promotes transparency and protects
free market trade. However, as practice shows, this obligation is
often difficult to fulfill for the owners of marks.
Revocation of a protection right to a trademark
Under current provisions, a trademark's protection right
expires as a result of failure to use the registered mark in a
genuine manner for the goods or services covered by the protection
right, during an uninterrupted period of five years following the
date of the decision granting the right, unless there are
